News
MAR 16.06.2015
The only two teams left in the promotion playoff have now booked their places to the final. UD Las Palmas will take on Real Zaragoza in the showdown to decide which club will be playing Liga BBVA football next season. LaLiga.es looks over the Aragon side’s key players line by line.
In nets
This season there has been a break away from convention in goal, given that Ranko Popović has given plenty of playing time to all three of his goalkeepers. All of Pablo Alcolea, Yassine Bounou and Óscar Alexander Whalley have played 8, 16 and 20 games respectively this year in Liga Adelante.
The goalkeeper who seems to have made the number one spot his own in the final stretch of the competition is Bounou. The young Moroccan-Canadian is one of the most promising players in the squad, and it looks like he will be the one who takes his place between the sticks tomorrow.
Ranko Popović has used his three goalkeepers during the regular season
At the back
Zaragoza have maintained a back four during the season, however during the playoff semi-finals Popović went with a back five made up of José Manuel Fernández, Jesús Vallejo, Mario Abrante, Diego Rico and Rubén Gonzálezen in the first leg, while Leandro Cabrera replaced Rubén in the return game. The side’s dynamic this season with regards to shipping goals has not been the best, with only six teams conceding more than the 58 leaked by the Zaragoza backline this season. However, the Aragon club has offset the number of goals it has conceded to perfection by scoring more up top. As such, without possessing one of the most effective defensive units in the division, Zaragoza still managed to climb to sixth and have progressed in the playoff to still be in with a shot of promotion. Additionally, at just 18 years of age, Jesús Vallejo’s impressive breakthrough into the starting line-up has given the Aragonese fans another reason to be optimistic.
Middle of the park More often than not four players have made up the Aragonese outfit’s midfield. The Serbian manager has placed most of his trust in Albert Dorca, Ruiz de Galarreta, Pedro Antonio Sánchez and Eldin Hadžić to marshal the middle of the park this season. Albert Dorca deserves special praise. The Catalan has been the focal point for Zaragoza and his stats pay testament to that. He has provided the fourth highest number of passes in the division (1,975) and has enjoyed the third highest number of minutes of playing time of any Liga Adelante midfielder this season (3,600 minutes). In terms of attack, Eldin Hadžić is the team’s greatest threat going forward from midfield. The Bosnian is Zaragoza’s second top scorer, with eight goals to his name.
Albert Dorca is the Liga Adelante’s third most regularly featured midfielder
Up front
In the forward line one man has stood head and shoulders above everyone else this season: Borja Bastón. The Madrid-born marksman has been one of the division’s best strikers, closing the season out as the Liga Adelante’s second top scorer with 23 goals. Nonetheless, some doubt still hangs over whether or not he will play in the final due to a niggling injury.
To compensate for his absence, Popović has been using Willian José as a lone striker during the playoffs. The Brazilian paid his coach back in spades by getting a brace in the second leg of the first round against Girona FC, to add to the seven he had already tallied up during the Liga Adelante regular season.
© LALIGA - 2015